Stand By Me
by Shunyata Ryuen
Summary: Running from an abusive father, Saihitei Seishuku pulls into a small town looking for a meal, and instead finds a wry girl named Ryuuen who knows, somehow, what Sai is running from. But will Ryuuen stand by her when it's her life on the line? (ch. 5)
1. I

Stand By Me 

**Disclaimer:** It is not mine if I'm a cat; it is not mine if I'm a bat. It is not mine if I'm a shoe; it's only mine if I am Yuu. …which, um…I'm not. *thumbs up* 

**Warnings: **Some mild language (at least until Tasuki shows up, then that may change. ^_~.), eventual-possible-who-knows-but-it-always-comes-up-so-why-fight-it-anyway same-sex relationship stuff. If this offends you, go to your room until you have rejoined the twenty-first century, and don't you dare turn on that T.V., young lady. I mean it this time. 

**Summary:** Nuriko. Hotohori. A diner, a small town, an abusive father, and the same title as that spiffy 1985 movie with Wil Wheaton and River Phoenix. What more can ya ask for?? 

**Stand By Me**   
by Ryuen

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ _  
When the night has come   
And the land is dark   
And the moon is the only   
Light we see. _

No I won't be afraid   
Oh, I won't be afraid   
Just as long as you stand   
Stand by me. 

--Ben E. King   
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

--- 

_It's okay. You're okay. It's okay. Take a deep breath and stop thinking about it STOP THINKING ABOUT IT and just drive. Drive or you're gonna stay here all day and then he'll come back and good God what will you do if he comes back and you're still here BUT HE WON'T if you get out of here so just drive. Just drive. _

Letting out a shaky breath, I got the key into the ignition and pressed my $5.99-at-Payless loafer against the gas pedal. The engine revved once, the car inching forwards weakly, and for a moment I almost hyperventilated in blind panic— 

_God it's stalled or out of gas or broken and I'm going to have to walk to the bus stop and he's going to come back and find the car out front and know I was trying to leave and _

--but then, a calm voice in the back of my mind reminded me of the gearshift, and I glanced down at it to find that I'd left it in neutral, and that was why I wasn't going anywhere. Shaking even more from relief than I had from fear and panic, I got my hand around the stick and jammed it up into first. A second later, my foot was on the pedal again, and the car was pulling out onto the street and I was free…I was free. 

_See? See, was that so hard? Now get the hell out of town before he comes back. Drive. Drive drive drive. You have to get out of here because you've come too far to turn back now and if he comes back and you're still here he's going to –kill- you. Do you understand? _

Kill you. 

So, drive. Drive drive drive. 

I drove. I ran a stop sign, nearly plowed over a construction cone, and came dangerously-close to sideswiping one of the neighbor's garbage cans, but I was shaking so badly that it was hard to keep a grip on the wheel and so it kept slipping out of my hands and I knew that if I didn't calm down I was going to wreck and save him the trouble of killing me and— 

My thoughts broke off, my foot slamming down on the brakes, as a little blond boy on a bike whizzed past, frighteningly near to the hood of the car. Breathing in quick, panicked gasps, I came to a full stop there in the middle of the road, just two blocks away from the house, leaned my forehead against the steering wheel and closed my eyes. 

_Calm down. _

Calm down. 

Deep breaths. Deep. Breaths. 

In... 

...out. 

In... 

...out. 

Please. Please, Saihitei, you have to calm down, or you're never going to get out of this alive. Calm. Down. It's all right. You're stronger than this. 

Stronger. Stronger… 

_Yes. Yes, I'm stronger than this. _

I'm stronger. 

I sat up, abating the pressure of the seatbelt against my chest somewhat, and leaned back in the seat. My eyes slid open as I moved, and I was suddenly aware of how strong and steady my hands were, of how smoothly the breath flowed in and out of my lungs. It was all right. _I_ was all right. 

_Stronger than this. Stronger. Stronger stronger stronger. _

Calmly, I brought my hand down on the emergency break, pushed it down and rested my foot on the gas pedal. A moment later, the car was sliding gently forwards, and as the engine started to roar, I shifted into second and brought it easily around the corner that would take me onto Route 403 and then out onto the interstate. Already feeling more in-control of myself, I realized that it was suffocatingly hot in here and rolled down the window; the air, warm and scented with turned earth and growing things, swept the hair back from my face, sent a new wave of peace into my heart. 

_I...can't believe it. I did it. Didn't I? I did it. I'm really leaving. I really...left._

For a moment, I eased up off the gas, gliding down the road towards the stop sign, and let my gaze flicker to the rearview mirror, to the white, steeplish rise of the house, just visible above the neighboring rooftops. I could see it in my mind; the black and white checkered tiling of the entryway, the plush white carpeting in the living room, the shelves of expensive glass figurines and stylish picture frames, the latter of which carried any number of carefully-posed portraits of myself, my mother, my father... 

_I can never come back here,_ I realized with a sick, gnawing feeling. _Never. Or...not until he's gone. Or dead. Never._

And, despite all the mental and physical and emotional anguish this place caused me, I found myself hesitating. 

_Was...was it really so bad? It's a rough world out there—are you ready for that? You're going to have to get a job, find a place to live, find new friends and new places to feel safe and new everything. You have a car, yes, and a wallet full of cash and a handful of belongings. But, that's all you have. How long is that money going to last? How long will it be before he just calls the police and reports the car stolen or something?_

My foot thudded onto the brake, and for a long, sick moment, I seriously considered turning the car around, backing it into the driveway, and going back inside to get started on my work. And I would have, if not for the ache in my side, still lumpy and bruised from the grip of his fingers, and the sharpness of the memories inside of me. I spent a long time sitting there with my head leaned back against the headrest, my eyes closed and my breath coming quickly in memory— 

_my mother my mother on the floor, her cheek bruised and her lip swollen and the tears running down her cheeks and me standing over her with a frying pan in my hand and his face in front of me, a nightmare of bloodshot eyes and bellowing voice and swinging fists and I know he wants to kill me and will someday but not today today he'll just grab me and throw me up against the wall and_

--and then I opened my eyes, spent a brief moment checking for oncoming traffic, and then pulled out onto 403 and pressed my foot hard on the gas. Ten minutes later, I was speeding down the interstate with the wind sweeping back my long brown hair, and the man on the radio was singing a song about freedom. 

I wanted to sing along, but had a strange feeling that I would cry if I did, so I just sat there and smiled and drove, instead. And it felt good, to be free. 

~*~

Three hours later, hungry and weary of driving, I pulled onto the first off-ramp I came to and found myself in a little town called Hamry. After catching a glimpse of its Main Street--a narrow little road with cracked pavement and a total of three shops (a barber, a pharmacy, and a dingy outlet store)--I was less than optimistic about finding a reputable place to eat in. I was scanning the side streets for a place to turn around in when I saw it. 

The sign was chipped and faded, dangling from a lamp post like a bat, the wind sending it swinging idly back and forth. The sign itself was made of a mottled brown wood that had been smoothed over with white paint, but the edges were flaking off in long strips—even so, I could still make out the words, and they drilled into my soul like a memory. 

_The Phoenix_, the sign announced in old-fashioned block letters. 

And there beneath the words, red and feathered and completely intact despite the degredation of the sign, was a painting of a phoenix, rising up towards the letters with wings spread and beak tilted upwards. 

And before I knew what I was doing, I was turning onto that street and inching towards that sign, and then I was pulling into the dusty parking lot and tugging the car into a parking space and shutting it off and getting out and walking towards the door. 

_Why?_ I demanded as I moved, shivering once despite the warmth of the morning. _Why? Why here? What is it about that sign that..._

I came to a slow halt, the gravel biting into the bottoms of my feet through my sandals, and spent a moment staring at the building, frowning. 

_What on earth was that? Subliminal advertising?_

And yet... I glanced around the parking lot, discovered only three other cars aside from my own darkly-colored BMW—a beat-up old pickup truck, a red Beretta with a dent in its door, and a fairly new-looking Suzuki, its paint glowing a snowy white in the sun. 

_All right,_ I amended, glancing a bit hesitantly up at the building, _perhaps not. But, if not that, then what?_

I was staring blankly at the dark wooden siding, my lips twisted downwards and a crease in my brow, when I realized rather abruptly that I was not, in fact, invisible. 

"You planning on standing there all day?" a dry, pleasant voice asked. "The food tastes much better inside, you know." 

My gaze shifted almost guiltily, a slight flush creeping into my cheeks, and I wondered how I'd managed to miss the door opening, the footsteps down the walk... 

Whatever the case, there, leaning her shoulder up against the corner of the building, arms folded over her chest and eyes locked on me, was a young woman. She looked to be about my age, although she was a fair amount of inches shorter than I; not that that was surprising, as I towered even above some men, but still—I made a note of it, and continued in my silent inspection. 

Her hair, a dark, silken shade of violet, had been pulled up into a stylish twist on the back of her head, various escaped strands of it fluttering out around her face like a purple halo, dangling down over her eyes. Her skin was pale and blemish-free, making the darkness of her eyes and the fullness of her lips even more pronounced and exotic. What really caught my attention, however, was what she was wearing—a soft white button-up, tucked neatly into a black skirt, the former of which sported a dark vest and what was unmistakably a name-tag. 

_Oh_, I thought, mildly surprised, _she works here? _

Well, of course she does. And if the cars parked here are any indication, business is slow enough that any new addition to the place would cause a stir. Of course. They must've been watching me since I got here... 

Feeling vaguely embarrassed, I took a few steps towards her, sliding my hands into the pockets of my shorts and offering my usual winning smile. Granted, it wasn't typically the sort of thing that worked on women, but one never knew. 

"I apologize if I was loitering," I offered diplomatically, sliding into my usual stoic politeness without too much difficulty. "I was just...admiring the building. I've...I've never seen a structure this old that was—" I glanced at the dark, knotted wood, the layer of grime that had attached itself to the shingles, the crooked, crumbling brick of the chimney. "—holding up so well." 

She laughed, a light, melodic sound that rang through the quiet street like a song. "Well, you're a good liar, at least." And then she smiled, and I noticed for the first time that her eyes were an odd mixture of brown, violet, and rose, that she had a small mole, just beneath her left eye, and that her name tag called her _Ryuuen_. "Are ya hungry?" she asked, still grinning. "Business is a little slow this morning, so I promise you, we'll cook you just about anything you want without much argument." 

My stomach growled in answer, and—flushing red—I clamped my hands over it. Ryuuen laughed again. "C'mon," she said, tilting her head back towards the front entrance. "We can't have you collapsing from hunger out here in the parking lot. We try to avoid attracting the vultures, at least until garbage day." 

I smiled, closing the distance between us and extending my hand. "I'm Saihitei," I said, the warmth in my words surprisingly-geniune. 

"Although it's no great mystery," she offered, glancing down at the nametag, "I'm Ryuuen." Her fingers slid into mine, smooth and surprisingly-strong, and something like a tingle fluttered up my spine. 

"Ryuuen," I echoed softly. "It's…nice to meet you." 

We lingered there for a moment, our hands folded into each other, our eyes locked…and then, she smiled, and I carefully drew my fingers out, just as she pulled back hers. "C'mon," she said again, and was it my imagination, or was her voice shaking just a little...?"If you like the outside," she said wryly, "you're gonna be _really_ impressed with the inside." 

"You know what they say," I found myself murmuring, "it's what's on the inside that counts." 

Her eyes widened, just slightly, and I was startled by the depth of emotion lingering in those dark pools of violet, by the almost…stricken look that had flickered onto her features. And then the door slid open behind us, and a smiling bald head poked itself out to look at us. 

"We serving lunch outside today, Ryuu?" a dry voice called. 

Ryuuen glanced at the man over her shoulder, and from what I could see of her face, she was smiling again. "Coming, Uncle Joe," she said. "Tell the Pretzel Queen to get the grill fired up." 

Joe grinned. "It's been so long, not sure if she'll remember how!" And then, he'd vanished back into the building, calling out, "Anne! Fire up the grill!" 

Amused despite myself, I cast Ryuuen a quizzical smile when she turned back to me. "The Pretzel Queen?" 

After the initial look of surprise, she smiled and started to walk towards the door; I followed. "Her name is Anne," she explained, "and she's my aunt. Aunt Anne? Auntie Anne? Get it? Like the pretzel company?" 

I laughed. "I see. Does it bother her, that you call her that?" 

Ryuuen paused, her fingers lingering on the doorknob, and offered me a smiling shrug. "If it does, she doesn't say much about it. And trust me, if it bothered her, she would say so. She's very...ah..." 

"Ryuuuuuuen!" came a woman's shrill voice from inside. "Are you going to bring her in, or should Joe and I drag the grill out there to you like the poor common slaves that we are??" 

She winked at me. "...vocal." And then her hand slipped into mine, even as the other tugged the door open. Before my brain had caught up with the warming touch suddenly blazing up my arm, she was pulling me into the diner, and all I could do was follow. 

_It's what's on the inside that counts_, my brain reminded me softly. 

_It's what's on the inside._

~*~

**Author's Note:**

**Readers:** WTF, Ryuen!?! They're GIRLS?! BOTH of them!?!   
**Ryuen:** Hai, hai. And here to tell you whyyyyy, is everyone's favorite crossdressing seishi. Soooo, go ahead, Nuri-chan. Tell 'em why.   
**Nuriko:** Ahhhem. Because gender doesn't matter, and thusss...it shouldn't matter if Hotohori-sama and I are both men, a man and a woman, or two women. *nod*   
**Ryuen:** There ya have it. ^_~. 

More to come soon. Until then, leave a review! I'd love to know what you think. ^^ 


	2. II

[Stand By Me]

-2-

---

"Well?"  Ryuuen had released my hand and was standing there with her back against the bar, arms folded over her chest and a grin on her lips.  "Whaddya think?  Not too bad for what it looks like on the outside, huh?"  
  
I nodded weakly, glancing around the interior of the diner with wide eyes.  It was absolutely immaculate, the bar made of a smooth, blond wood that had been varnished and smoothed down, astonishingly-detailed roses carved into the sides.  Despite how small the building had seemed from outside, it felt almost cavernous now, with one wall covered entirely in a sheet of mirrors, the other in a monstrous picture window that overlooked what I assumed to be some local farmer's cornfield.  The ceiling, too, was high and slightly-sloped, several gently-spinning fan lights stamped into the plaster, and the tables—made of the same blond wood as the bar and decorated with the same intricate designs—were spaced out enough to give the room an airy, spacious feeling.

"It's...amazing," I breathed.  "Beautiful.  How on earth was it done?"  When I finally managed to return my eyes to Ryuuen, I found her with her back to me and her eyes on the coffee pot, one hand pressed lightly against the side of her face as the other fumbled with the buttons.  Her back seemed oddly rigid, and there was something about the way she was standing...  

"Ryuuen?" I asked gently, frowning and trying to get a glimpse of her face.  "Is something the matter?"

Joe, who I could now see was a stout bald man with a bulbous nose and a wide, thick-lipped smile, grinned at me from over the counter.  He'd rolled the sleeves of his white dress shirt up nearly to his shoulders, and from the yellowish stains peeking out from beneath his arms, I assumed he'd spent most of the morning near the stove.  "Eh, she's just fine," he offered with a wink.  "Just got a little blushing problem..."  
  
My lips twisted.  "B...Blushing problem?  Why—"  
  
The kitchen door swung open, made way for a plump older woman with thick red hair and a face-full of freckles.  Her lips, painted a bright red and outlined in black, bent up almost mischievously when she saw me, and I got the sudden impression that perhaps there was more going on between these three than I was aware of...  "Ryuuen's the one who remodeled the place," the woman, whom I assumed was the Pretzel Queen I'd heard so much about outside, explained.  "Cut up the wood herself, carved out all those little roses, even knocked out that wall over there for the window.  Buncha the local guys tried to help her out, but nooo sir, she wouldn't hear of it.  Did it all herself."  
  
Ryuuen, who had turned slightly to glare at her aunt, was, indeed, blushing.  Her cheeks were splotched with pink, her lips pressed together as if trying to prevent herself from crying out.  "Aunt _Anne_," she said through gritted teeth.  "Stpittt..."

I saw Anne and Joe exchanging some sort of glance out of the corner of my eye after that, but wasn't really paying much attention, as my eyes were fixed on Ryuuen with something like wonder.  "You...you did all this yourself?  All of it?"

She turned back to me, looking vaguely surprised, as if she'd forgotten I was still here, and the blush darkened a bit.  "Ah...most of it, yeah..."  She shook her head slightly, then, the hand climbing back up to her cheek as if to push back the flush.  "It's...not really a big deal.  Anyway, would you like to hear the specials?"  
  


_Please,_ her eyes begged, _dropppp it..._

So, I did.  Shrugging, I slipped my hands back into the pockets of my khaki shorts and smiled.  "It's not necessary.  Actually, I'd love some soup, if you have any.  And perhaps a sandwich."

The gratitude shone in her eyes as she motioned me towards one of the barstools, and I was vaguely aware of something like a smile passing between Anne and Joe beside us.  But then, Ryuuen was standing there in front of me with a notepad cradled in her palm, and everything else faded out around us.

_This is...strange,_ I found myself thinking as she listed off a variety of soups and sandwiches.  _It feels as if...as if I've met her before.  Or, as if we...share something, somehow.  Somehow, it feels as if..._

"...broccoli with chopped lizard feet in the broth..."

My eyes snapped back into focus, and I felt my eyebrows raise.  "Lizard feet??"

Ryuuen winked, skirt fluttering in the light breeze from the window.  "Just making sure you were still paying attention.  So, any of those sound good?  Want the breakfast menu instead?  It's past eleven, of course, but I don't think there'll be any complaints if you want something breakfasty—"  Her head twisted to the side, glanced back at her aunt and uncle.  "—right?"

Anne, who had been standing just next to her husband watching us, moved suddenly forward, and a moment later was hovering there in front of me with an odd, almost sorrowful smile in her eyes.  "You order whatever you want, honey," she said, gripping my fingers briefly with her own.  "Breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon tea...I can make whatever you want."

"I..."  I shook my head.  "Anything is fine."  
  


"Anything, eh?" Anne echoed, her voice gone suddenly wry.  "I see!  Well, then, I'll just go whip up some liver and onions, if it's _anything_..."

Actually, I was quite fond of liver and onions...but somehow, now didn't seem the appropriate time to mention that.

"I apologize," I said, wearing my winning smile again.  "Do you suppose I could have chicken noodle soup and a turkey sandwich?  And some coffee would be wonderful."  
  
The woman grinned, rolling up the sleeves of her blouse.  "Thaaaat's more like it," she said approvingly.  "Sure you just want turkey, though, hon?  We've got every kinda lunch meat you can imagine back there.  How about some roast beef?  Just got it in this morning—great stuff..."  
  


I opened my mouth, closed it again.  "Ahh, I'd actually prefer turkey, if that's all right.  With a touch of mustard, if you could."  
  
Ryuuen made a face, turning briefly to slap the notepad down onto the counter.  "Mustard," she muttered.  

I lifted an eyebrow.  "Is there something wrong with mustard?"  
  


"Ryuu's not a big fan of mustard," Joe explained, shrugging his big shoulders.  "Ya try to teach your children right, but in the end, they always end up disappointing you."  He wrinkled his nose.  "End up liking _may-o-nnaaaise_.  Next thing you know, she'll be having scrambled eggs without green peppers, or ham sandwiches without the cheese!  Seriously, Anne, we never should've taken this little hellion into our home all those years ago..."  
  


Ryuuen, who'd been busying herself with retrieving a mug from beneath the counter, stuck her tongue out at her uncle, stretching her hand over to lift the coffee pot from its holder.  "Well, lucky for you," she said, "I got the lease on that apartment I was trying for.  So, don't worry, Uncle Joe.  Soon you'll only have to put up with my mustard-hating ways at work."

There was a long, blinking pause.  

And then, Anne had lifted her hands into the air and dashed around the counter, and a moment later, she was hugging Ryuuen close, mindless of the coffee pot still dangling from the girl's fingers.  Joe managed to lunge forward and rescue the pot before it fell, but Anne didn't even seem to notice.

"Oh, Ryuuen, honey," she was gushing, pulling the girl so close that I wondered if she could breathe...  "Why didn't you tell us before?  That's wonderful!  Your first apartment!"

Ryuuen, who seemingly had begun to blush again, somehow managed to disentangle herself from her aunt's deathgrip and take a slow step backwards.  "It's...not definite yet," she amended, raising her hands as if to ward off another hug.  "I still have to find a roommate if I'm ever going to be able to afford living there, and..."  She sighed, looked to the ground.  "...well, there aren't all that many girls looking for apartments this early in the spring, and so if I can't find one, I'll either have to get another job so I can afford the place until summer, or else just give up the apartment and hope I can find something else cheaper."

I had just met her.  I was in a dingy little farm town with cow pies and old-time diners and a population of what I imagined was slightly less than twelve, and I was fairly sure that I was suffering from some sort of emotional repression as it had been almost an hour and a half since I'd even thought about the fact that I'd left my home this morning never to return...  And yet, suddenly, I wanted nothing more desperately than to rise up from my chair, hold out my hand to Ryuuen, and say, "I'll be your roommate."

_Saihitei.  Saihitei.  Don't be stupid.  Think about this.  Why on earth would you want to live in a place like this?  Why on earth would you want to move in with someone you just met?  Why on earth would you even –consider- it?!_

And, yet...

_There's something here.  I can feel it.  There's something..._

"...else on your sandwich, dear?"  
  


I blinked, coming out of my brief reverie and finding Anne at the kitchen door, Ryuuen wiping a splotch of spilled coffee up with a rag, and Joe with his hands in the sink.  "Ah...sorry?"  
  
"I said," Anne enunciated, "do you want anything else on your sandwich?"

I flushed.  "Ah...no, nothing.  Thank you, though."

Anne smiled briefly and charged into the kitchen; following close behind her, mumbling something about "checking on the water," was Joe...and then Ryuuen and I were alone.  For a moment there was silence between us, no sound or movement but the clanging of pots in the kitchen, the twitter of birds outside the window, and the occasional rush-rumble of a passing car.  And then, Ryuuen let out a soft sigh, slid onto the stool next to me, and folded her arms onto the countertop.  

"Is this your first time in Hamry?" she asked.  The infectious enthusiasm seemed more muted, now, almost...weary.   

I inclined my head, drawing a careful sip from my coffee.  "Yes.  I'm passing through on my way to—"  I broke off, realizing with a start that I didn't know _where_ I was going. 

Ryuuen had raised a slender eyebrow.  "To...?"

Flushing a little, I returned the mug to the countertop, folded my hands together beside it.  "Well, I, ah...haven't quite figured that part out, yet."  

For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, the magnitude of what I'd just done slammed into me, and I found myself gazing down into my mug as if trying to read my uncertain future in the swirls of creamer.

_left home you left home I can't believe you left home he's going to be so angry what if he hurts Mother because of this but I had to go I had to go or he would've killed me and I'm so sorry, Mother, but I had to I had to_

I was startled out of my thoughts by a warm touch against my hand, looked away from the depths of my coffee to find Ryuuen gazing up at me in concern, her fingers touching lightly against my own.  "It's probably best that you left," she murmured after a moment.  

I blinked, eyes going wide.  "Wh...best that I left?"

Ryuuen turned back in her stool, drawing her hand away from mine and clasping her fingers together on the counter.  "Yeah," she said.  "Whoever was hurting you.  Was it your boyfriend?"

_How could she know??  How in the name of God could she know??_

"My...my father," I found myself admitting.  "But, how did you...?"

_Did...did she just wince?_

Her shoulders lifted slightly.  "I know the signs.  Anyway—"  And abruptly, the moment of solemnity had faded, and she was smiling again, the expression slightly muted but still bright with what I was beginning to suspect was faked cheer.  "—if you're looking for a place to settle down in, Hamry probably won't do; it's too small, too many farmers, and there are waaay too many people who drive around in pick-up trucks smoking unfiltered cigarettes and talking about hunting.  Plus, it's not much in the way of entertainment.  We've got a shopping center and a Walmart and a movie theatre, and every other year in July there's a fair in one of the fields, but that's about it.  And, a lot of the people are bigoted and racist and sexist, plus the only decent apartments are pretty expensive and—"

The kitchen door swung open, making way for Joe, a plate with a toasted turkey sandwich on it balanced on his hand.  "Eh, don't listen to her," he interjected, crossing to where we sat and clunking the plate down in front of me.  "Hamry's a great place to settle down in, and don't let this girl here—"  He leaned forward, pinched lightly at Ryuuen's cheeks.  "—tell ya any different."  He winked.  "Not that she isn't right about all that she just said...but, that doesn't make Hamry a bad place to live in, now, does it?  Hmm, Ryuu?"

The girl smiled, studying her fingernail as it scratched against the countertop.  "Nah, it's not a bad place to live in.  But...still.  Not a place I'd suggest to someone looking for a new home."

Joe blinked at me.  "You looking for a new place to live?"

I flushed a little, wondering—if Joe had been able to overhear what Ryuuen had said about the town—if he'd heard what _else_ we'd been speaking of moments earlier...  "Y-Yes," I managed at last, bringing my fingers down to my sandwich and discovering that I'd seemingly lost my appetite.  "I've just...left home for the first time, and I'm looking for a place to live and work in for awhile."

And suddenly, Joe's hands were up in the air and Anne had come dashing back in from the kitchen and they were both standing there by the counter, staring down at me with glittering eyes.    
  
"That's perfect!" Anne exclaimed.  "You should settle in Hamry!"

Joe nodded enthusiastically.  '''Course!  And since Ryuu here's looking for a roommate, you'd have a place to live!"  
  
"And a place to work," Anne added, nudging her husband with an elbow.  "We're looking for another waitress!"

I blinked rapidly, feeling as if someone had just screamed, "Avalanche!!" and I'd found my feet stuck to the ground.  When the excited chatter finally died down, I glanced to the side to get a glimpse of Ryuuen, fairly positive that she would be glaring at her aunt and uncle for being so presumptuous, but...she was smiling.  Very softly, very lightly...but, she was smiling.

"Well, whaddya say?" she asked me, still smiling, a slight blush creeping into her cheeks.  "I know we've just met, but..."  The smile softened.  "...you don't look like a serial killer.  Besides, if you were, this town's so small that everyone would know about it in a week, anyway, and then you'd have to deal with torch mobs and public tar-and-feathering..."

For a long moment I could only sit there, feeling stunned and breathless, my hands kneading together in my lap even as my eyes lingered on those muddled pools of brown and violet and pink.  

_This is impetuous.  And not intelligent at all.    
  
Honestly, Saihitei.  You've just –met- these people.  You don't –like- this town.  Why on earth would you even want to –think- about accepting this offer?  You haven't seen the apartment, you don't know anything about where it's located or if it even has running water or not!  _

_Besides, what does it say about these people, that they would ask this of you after you've been in their lives for what, fifteen minutes?  It could be some sort of scam—convince young, alone-for-first-time girl to move in with trustworthy-looking other young girl, and then steal all her belongings and bury her in a field.  Stranger things –have- happened.  Seriously, what on earth makes you think you can trust them??_

But, somehow...I felt as if I could.  I couldn't explain it, but there was something deep inside of me that resonated with this place and these people, Ryuuen in particular.  It was as if...as if something had been lying inside of me for my entire life, dormant and silent, waiting for this moment.  And now that this moment had arrived, now that I'd accepted these individuals into my life...that something had come alive, warm and achingly-bright within me, drawing me up out of the sorrow and the pain of my recent escape—making me believe.  And trust.  

_It's so strange.  I feel as if I can trust her.  I feel as if...as if I could place my life into her hands this very instant and not be the slightest bit in danger.  I feel as if...as if..._

_...as if I'm –safe.-_

"Oh, how silly of us," Anne exclaimed suddenly, pulling me from my thoughts, turning my head to look at her.  "Of course you can't answer, dear—you haven't even seen the place!  Well, then.  How about this.  It's only just down the street, right, Ryuuen?  So, why don't you two go take a look at it while I finish heating up the soup, and when you get back, you can have some lunch and make a decision.  How does that sound?"  
  
_What would be the harm?  In just going to look at it?  What would be the harm?_

I smiled, shrugged.  "All right.  That'd be nice."  I hesitated, the smile bending a little.  "But, ah..."  
  
Anne's face was suddenly just in front of mine, concern blaring in her eyes.  "What?  What is it, dear?"

"Do...do you suppose I could take the sandwich with me?"

She laughed, tilting back on her heels and slapping a hand against her husband's shoulder.  "Of course, dear; of course.   Here, I'll get you a baggie to put it in!"

I blushed.  "Thank you..."  
  
Joe grinned, wagging a finger at my warming cheeks.  "See that, Ryuu?  It's meant to be.  Somebody who blushes just as much as you do."

Ryuuen and I exchanged glances, both of our cheeks flushing.  Joe laughed his way off into the kitchen, but even after he'd gone, his words stayed with me, echoing oddly in my brain.

_It's meant to be._

As we headed outside a few minutes later, me chewing on a mouthful of turkey while Ryuuen slid forward to open the door, I couldn't help but wonder if perhaps he was right.  

~*~

**AN:  **Massive thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter!  WOOHOO!! ^____^.  

PS to Roku-chan—ahhhhh, I'm sorry!!  Instead of reading your wonderful chapter, I've been writing this bloody thing. ^^;;;  I offer my deepest apologies, but know that it's not my fault!!  Female Sai just grabbed me by the ankle and wouldn't let go until I wrote more, and...well, now, I've got to go do –real- work, and once again, I'm not going to be able to read White Stones!  *cries*  Buuuuut, I promise I'll get to it as soon as I get the chance!!! *firm nod*   

PS to everyone else—ahhh, if you read, I'd reaaaaaally appreciate it if you reviewed. ^_^.  Don't feel obligated, of course...but...well, reviews make any day better. ^_~.  *cough* Okay, done now. ^^


	3. III

~*~

The world outside the diner was just as I'd left it—hot, dusty, and empty.  And yet, something seemed different and almost beautiful about it, now, as if I were looking on it with eyes that were somehow blind to the cigarette butts that poked up from the grass, to the dingy, rotting wood of the surrounding buildings, to the scent of cow manure that stung into my lungs with every breath.  Instead, I saw the abundance of trees, maple and oak in particular, that littered the streets, that clumped in various, random places and swayed their leaves in the breeze.  I saw the rolling stretches of fields, places where a person could run for an hour and still not reach the other side, where in some places the grass was rich and green and sheared down to almost the ground, and where in some places it stretched up to nearly chest-height, the wind rushing against it like the shifting of ocean waves.

_Well... at least it's quiet. _

And, it was—almost frighteningly so.  Despite the fact that houses lined the street (spaced out a great deal more than those I was accustomed to, and some looking slightly...unkempt), there was no sign of anyone at all outside other than Ryuuen and myself.  Of course, it _was_ a weekday, and so most likely a great many of those who would've been on this street were at school or work, but...well, still.  I was accustomed, when I walked outside, to instantly being under the scrutiny of the eyes of passing cars and neighbors, and to be here, in a place where privacy might actually exist...

...but, no.  This was a small town, after all.  People...talked.  How did I know there weren't a thousand eyes on me right now, peering out of their attic windows or something?  A slight frown came to my lips, and I was so concerned with casting dark glances at various neighboring windows, hoping to alert whoever might be spying that I was on to them, that I didn't notice Ryuuen's approach.  She had closed the door behind us, pushing it shut with a muted squeak-clink, and now she stood just beside me, peering up at my face.  And, even though I got the impression that she wanted to smile, I also couldn't help but notice that she was frowning.  

And, just like that, all my childish hopes of a future in this place went crumbling to the ground.

I sighed inwardly.

_You were being silly, anyway.  Why on earth would these people want you in their lives?  They're a family already; of course you would want to be a part of them, but why would they want you?  Just because they're polite enough to invite you doesn't mean they really mean it.  It doesn't mean you should accept.  _

Just as I was opening my mouth to apologize for being so presumptuous, however, the frown faded a little, and Ryuuen offered a lopsided smile.  "What is it?" she asked wryly, a hint of weariness creeping into her tone.  "The smell of cow manure in the morning isn't enough to make you wanna live here?"

And, just like that, I knew that I had been wrong.

Ryuuen was standing there beside me, arms folded a bit awkwardly over her chest, one eyebrow raised and lips still bending upwards.  But...there was something in her eyes, or maybe in the way she was standing, that told me that maybe, just maybe...  Of course, I had no reason to believe this impression over the one I'd had just a moment ago, but...well, wishful thinking, perhaps.  In any case, she had the look of someone bracing herself for a let-down, and even though my cheeks burned at the thought that it might be about me, there was a very good chance that it _was_.

"No," I said slowly, choosing my words carefully.  "Actually, I was thinking that—"  I smiled.  "--it's very beautiful here." 

Ryuuen's eyes went wide.  "Beautiful? You think this—"  One hand traveled to her hip, while the other made a wide, sweeping gesture that encompassed the majority of the street.  "—is beautiful?"

My eyes followed the gesture instinctively, looking again at the chipping paint on some of the houses, at the rusty jeeps and the tire-piles and the rickety porches, some so obscured by plantlife that they were vaguely reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty's castle.  

And, yet...

I let my gaze drift back to Ryuuen, standing there with a thin eyebrow lifted and a hand on her hip and a confused frown on her lips.  But, something had changed in her eyes, and I had seen it enough in my own to recognize it, quite unmistakably, as hope.

_She really does want me to stay here, doesn't she?  She...really does._

I gave a slight shrug, sliding my hands into my pocket and trying to hide the pleased smile from my lips.  "It has its faults, of course...but..."  I shrugged again.  "There's a beauty about this place, don't you think?"

She was silent for a long time, staring at me as if quite sure I'd lost my mind, the expression on her face both readable and unreadable at the same moment.  And then, she gave a short, high laugh, shook her head, and started to move down the sidewalk towards the parking lot.  "You're a strange one, Saihitei," she said.

Her shoulders were a little stiff, I noticed, and if I hadn't hurried to catch up with her, I would've missed the slight flush that had crept into her cheeks.  I was still pondering what on earth I could've said or done to embarrass her when she spoke again.  

As I'd slid into step with her, she'd glanced at me a little nervously, but now she was facing front again, seemingly completely focused on our goal.  "So, what do people call you for short, anyway?" she asked, the blush beginning to fade.  "That's one hell of a name you've got there."

Caught off-guard, my mind spun uselessly for a few moments before I was able to answer.  "Most...people just call me 'Saihitei,'" I managed at last, frowning slightly.  "My parents used to call me 'Tei' when I was younger.  I suppose that's the nearest thing to a nickname I've ever had."

We were nearing the edge of the parking lot; despite her short stature, I found that Ryuuen took long, sturdy strides, and I was actually having to work a bit to keep up.  I glanced at my car as we passed by it, wondering what it might be like for it to become a fixture of this parking lot—what it might be like to pull into that space every morning, spend the day pouring coffee and serving people and then go home to...to an apartment I hadn't even seen yet.  Granted, I'd heard it said many times that the people who accompany you are more important in life than where you live or where you work, but...well, seriously.  What were the chances that these three were as perfect as they seemed??

Ryuuen's voice cut into my thoughts, then, and I forced myself to abandon that line of thinking...at least for now.

"Well," she said, glancing at me from the corner of her vision, "what do you want to be called?"

_What do I –want- to be called?  _I frowned, never having really thought about it before.  "I...I don't know," I managed.  "What would you like me to call _you?_"

"Well," she said slowly, stretching up a hand to push the hair out of her eyes, "I don't think it really matters all that much.  Names aren't all that important, anyway—just a way to make sure people know who you're talking about, right?  So, call me whatever you want."

"Whatever I want," I echoed flatly.  
  
Ryuuen smiled, and the warmth in her eyes was enough to send the irrational flickers of hope surging into me, tingling up my spine.  "Uh-huh.  Whatever you want."  

I faced front again, hands slipping into the pockets of my shorts, and smiled.  "Would it bother you terribly if I just called you, 'Ryuuen?'"

She shrugged, a grin playing at her lips.  "No.  Would it bother _you_ terribly if I _didn't_ just call you 'Saihitei?'"

"Well," I said, stepping over a large rock that had somehow found its way onto the sidewalk, "that would depend on what you were to call me instead."

"How about...'Sai?'"

I blinked, honestly surprised.  "Sai," I murmured.  "No one's ever called me that before."

It was Ryuuen's turn to look surprised.  "_No_ one??  But, it's so obvious!  Sai, Saihitei...Sai, Saihitei.  Y'see?  Jesus, what kind of uncreative people are you friends with, anyway?"

An unexpected pang hit in my heart at the thought of my friends, and I had a hard time answering at first.  My throat felt tight all of a sudden, and even though I knew that it would've been horribly dangerous for me to try to drag any of them into this, to let them know where I was when I was sure it'd only hurt them and me...well, I missed them.  It hadn't been terribly long since I'd seen them, but it was going to be a lot longer before I saw them again—and despite the fact that I knew this had been the right decision, losing the friends I'd had all my life hurt.  A lot.  

Suddenly, I was aware of a hand on my arm, of being pulled to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk by a surprisingly-strong grip.  Upon turning, I found Ryuuen there beside me with her fingers wrapped around my bicep, slim eyebrows pushing together on her forehead.  "I'm sorry," she said in a soft voice, sounding truly regretful.  She looked as if she wanted to say more, as if there was something inside of her that needed to be released, but she couldn't seem to find the words, and lapsed into silence after the initial apology.  

It was all right, though, because I could see all I needed to in her eyes, and in the warm touch of her hand against my arm.  And, even as the logical side of my brain raged that I was being silly and stupid and of _course_ she didn't care about me when we had _just met_, for God's sake...well, my heart was stubborn, and decided to hang onto that belief despite its unlikelihood.   

"It's...all right," I said at last, feeling somehow as if something inside of me had been healed, just in these last few seconds.  "It isn't your fault."

Her face grew oddly solemn.  "You're right," she said quietly.  There was a slight pause; her grip on my arm tightened, briefly, and something flared in her eyes.  "And it isn't yours, either."

And then, she'd turned and started walking again, and all I could do was follow, the words spinning in my brain.  

~*~

The landlady, as it turned out, was a pleasant but slightly-smothering woman named Amelia Danon.

"Just Ammie," she insisted, reaching over the table to cover my hand briefly with her own.  "Nobody's called me 'Amelia' since I was younger'n you two."

Since Ryuuen had already succeeded in getting the lease and, thankfully, a key, we'd been able to go straight to the apartment and look around without having to trouble Ammie, whom my mind still insisted on referring to as 'Mrs. Danon.'  And despite the fact that the woman seemed accomodating and kind, I was still exceedingly thankful that she hadn't been hovering over me as I examined the place.  Her presence had a way of filling up a space, and sitting, as we were, in her small kitchen with a kettle of tea brewing in the corner, I was starting to feel slightly claustrophobic.  The air in the apartment was very heavy and very dry, weighing us down, making us sweat.  And even though the kitchen was, as my mother would've called it, "quite charming," with its daisy tablecloth, speckled white counter, and daisy-curtained window, I was beginning to long for escape.

As if sensing my discomfort, Ryuuen turned slightly in her seat, her eyes flickering to my face.  The table was square and fairly high off the ground; as such, we were seated in backless stools rather than actual chairs, which was certainly taking some getting used to.  Ryuuen, however, seemed to be just as comfortable and relaxed as she would've been in any other chair, hands folded lightly on the table, legs crossed at the ankle and bouncing against the bottom of the stool.

"So," she said after a moment, left eye dipping into a wink, "what do you think of the place?  Worth unpacking the car for?"

All thoughts of my own discomfort bled from my mind, and I shifted in my seat.  "Ah..."  I hesitated, giving a slight, apologetic smile, and watched as Ammie (who was a great deal shorter than Ryuuen or I, I'd noticed) hopped down from her stool, made her way to the stove, and tugged the tea kettle from the burner just as it started to whistle.   

I was just opening my mouth to give an answer when I noticed that Ammie had pulled three mugs down from the cupboard over the sink.

"No tea for me, please," I said quickly, struggling not to sound impolite.

She turned to look at me at that, the mugs hooked around her thumbs, and the weight of her presence seemed suddenly amplified.  

She really wasn't a formidable-looking woman, I found myself thinking.  Her hair was dark and straight, cropped into a boyish style that reached only to the nape of her neck.  The style, combined with her small stature and pixie-like features, made her seem much younger, and I'd been truly surprised when Ryuuen had informed me that she was actually somewhere in her mid-forties.  From her appearance, I'd have expected late-twenties or early-thirties, and if it hadn't been for the telltale...ah...well...  I blushed at the thought.  Well, if not for her...more obvious physical characteristics, I might have thought her a male.  

There was just something about her, maybe the way she carried herself, or the clothes she wore (loose-fitting blue jeans and a grey polo shirt), that gave me that impression.  It wasn't an insult against her, of course; she was fairly good-looking, in a genderless kind of way, and as I said, it wasn't as if I could've thought her anything but a woman from her...ah...appearance.  

"No tea for you," she echoed, one dark eyebrow raising.  And then, despite the fact that she looked as if she wanted to say more, she turned back to the cupboard and returned one of the mugs.  "All right, then. Ryuu, what about you?"

She sounded a little irritated, and I felt suddenly guilty.  My future landlady, inviting me kindly to have some tea in her kitchen, and I refuse...  I sighed.  

_This woman is going to be responsible for your rent, you idiot.  She's going to be the one you go to if you have a problem, and who you'll want to be on good terms with in case you ever need anything.  So, of course, instead of making a good first impression and accepting her kind offer of tea, instead you refuse because of some childish fear...  That's wonderful, Saihitei.  I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time living here n—_

My thoughts broke off with a start, and I felt my eyes widening.

_My...my God.  That was a decision, wasn't it!?  _

"Sai?"  
  


Blinking, I turned my head to the right, looked straight at Ryuuen and realized she was frowning at me.  Of course, the fact that my mouth was hanging open and my eyebrows were sailing up onto my forehead might've had something to do with her expression, but I was too stunned to care.

_The apartment...it's small.  And there's only one bedroom.  Room enough for two beds, of course, but...you'd have to sleep in the same room as someone else, and you've never had to do that before in your life.  The kitchen, too, is very small, barely room enough for a microwave and a small fridge.  The carpeting isn't terribly attractive, either—brown.  You hate brown.  And the parking lot beside the building is too small; you might not be able to find a parking space some day, and then what would you do?  Probably, you'd have to park down the street and walk back, at night, and even in a small town that would be dangerous.  _

_But..._

I let out a soft breath, my features relaxing, and met Ryuuen's gaze with a slight smile.

_But, you don't care, do you?  You don't care.  _

I was aware, now, that Ammie had paused at the stove and was staring at me, too, two mugs of steaming tea cradled in her fingers.  Time seemed frozen for a moment, and even though my back was bent uncomfortably in this stool and I had irritated my landlady and the air in here was dry enough that I thought I might start coughing at any moment...I had made a decision.  It was irrational.  It was probably the stupidest thing I'd ever done.  Even so, it was a decision, and I was surprised by how _good_ it felt, to know.

"I...I want to live here," I admitted at last.  A small, awed smile touched my lips.  "I want to live here."

~*~


	4. IV

[Stand By Me]

-4-

"So, why don't you like tea?"

Blinking, I glanced up from my book—a World War II infantryman's journal that I was really getting into—and found Ryuuen lying on her stomach on the bed, peering down at me with a thoughtful expression on her face.  Despite how many times she'd assured me that she didn't mind taking the sleeping bag on the floor, I'd finally managed to convince her to take the bed, and as if to punish herself for relenting, she hadn't moved from it since we'd come into the room an hour ago.  I'd been reading, lying on my back on the sleeping bag with a tall floor lamp for illumination, and she'd been flipping through a magazine on the bed, humming softly.  Now, though, she'd turned to face me and had her arms folded over one another on the edge of the bed, chin resting lightly on top of them as she watched me.  

Pushing myself into a sitting position, I dropped the book into my lap and studied her.  "I don't know," I said slowly.  "I suppose I just don't like the taste."

Ryuuen arched an eyebrow.  I'd been surprised to learn that she, like me, wore contacts; now, she had a pair of purplish wire-framed glasses perched on her nose, and was staring at me through them with the sort of doubting intensity I imagined a mother might give a child spinning a particularly-wild tale.  

"Really," she said.

I laughed slightly, drawing the silver wire-frame glasses from my face and slipping them into my left breast pocket.  "Is there a reason you find that so hard to believe?"

She shrugged, bare shoulders sliding up to her ears, and flipped back over onto her back with the magazine held above her.  Her hair had slipped a little from its ponytail with all the movement, strands of violet fanning out over the pillow case; as she started humming again, head moving unconsciously in time to the music, the strands of hair wavered like small streams of violet water.  I watched them for a few seconds, back against the wall and book resting in my lap, and then I let out a short breath and drew the book back up into my hands.  Even as I held it open before my eyes, though, I couldn't seem to find the concentration necessary to focus on the words; they swam before my eyes in lines of blurred black on white, and after a few moments, I gave up and tossed the book onto the carpet.  

Well, how in the world did she know that I had a phobia of tea, anyway?  It wasn't as if I'd said or done anything to advertise it so blatantly; I'd simply refused an offer to have some.  How on earth could she know that I'd done so because of...well, because of something other than simply not liking the taste of it?

Frowning, I peered up at her.  She was still lying on her back and humming, the magazine—Writer's Market, if I was reading the fragment of the front title correctly—dancing back and forth in her hands.  One foot was planted firmly on the flower-dotted bedspread, knee jutting up towards the ceiling, while the ankle of the other was balanced on that knee, foot twitching in perfect time to the rhythm of the magazine.  I opened my mouth to ask her just why she thought I might be lying about my reasons for disliking tea--

"I like your pajamas," she said suddenly, somehow pacing the words around her humming.  "They look comfortable."   
  


And, once again, I found myself reduced to blinking at her in surprise, struck mute in confusion and uncertainty.  "Thanks," I managed at last.  "I...I like yours, too."

Shaking my head, I lowered myself onto my side on the sleeping bag—blue and very warm, although that wouldn't be much of a blessing in this hot weather—and slid my arm beneath my pillow, gripping the material tightly in my fingers.  I couldn't help, as I laid there, examining the pajamas that had been so worthy of comment; doing so stopped me from thinking of other things, for one, and so I indulged myself for a moment, studying them as if I might gain some particularly fine pearl of wisdom from doing so.  

They were a silky cream, long-sleeved in spite of the heat and buttoned up the front, and despite the fact that my mother had always thought them far too masculine for me, I'd always preferred them to any of those she'd picked out for me.  Granted, the majority of her alternatives involved a skirt of some kind, and I'd just never been able to get used to the idea of sleeping in something that I might wake up and find wrapped around my waist.  But, even so, her choices were almost always lacy and revealing, far better suited—at least in my mind—for a prostitute than an innocent young woman who just wanted to get some sleep. 

Ryuuen, too, seemed to prefer pajamas that leaned more towards practicality than allure.  Despite the spaghetti straps holding her top up, it was decently-cut and made of a splotchy purple fabric that somehow seemed to hide almost all the, uh, obvious signs of femininity from her.  The bottoms, covered in blotches of white and purple to match the top, were cinched around her waist with a matching drawstring, and billowed down over her legs to the point of sometimes getting caught beneath her heels when she walked.  As such, I noticed that she seemed to walk on her tiptoes a great deal when she was wearing them.  It was a little detail, and one of those things that I imagined very few people knew about her; for some reason, trite as it sounds, knowing that made me feel closer to her, and more like a friend and future roommate than, say, someone she had just met.

My jaw clenched.  _Well, if she can ask odd questions out of the blue..._

"Ryuuen..."

I heard the sound of her shifting on the bed, probably turning to look at me.  I didn't glance up, however; my eyes stayed on the underside of the bed, where I could see a chess board, two rolled up posters, and a shoebox, and despite how often my mother had drilled into me the importance of meeting people's gazes when speaking to them, I kept my eyes locked on that odd assortment of items while I talked.

"I was...I was just wondering," I began with some difficulty, "if you could tell me...ah...well, why you..."  I flushed.  "Why you...that is, why you thought that...well, that..."

"Why I asked you to be my roommate, you mean?" 

Startled, I broke my stare with the shoebox and looked up at her; she'd taken off the glasses and was lying on her stomach again, staring down at me with those oddly intense rosy-violet eyes.  A hint of a smile pulled at her lips, but there was something serious in the expression, too.  I found myself suddenly afraid of her answer.

"I...I don't know," she answered at last.  "Have..."  She shook her head, somehow keeping her eyes locked on mine even as she did so.  "Have you ever met someone...and just known _immediately_ that they were meant to be in your life?  I...I guess that's how I felt when I met you."  She laughed suddenly, a pleasant ring amidst the otherwise-silent house.  "Listen to me.  I sound like I've known you for years."

I laughed, too, and it sounded good, the blend of our voices.  "Maybe we were friends in another life."  
  
"Yes!" she exclaimed, pointing at me with a little too much enthusiasm.  "Maybe we were cats together!"

I raised a quizzical eyebrow, opening my mouth to ask her just what on earth she meant, and was wholly unprepared for the sight of Writer's Market Magazine suddenly hurtling towards my head.  I caught it about an inch in front of my nose and—when Ryuuen reached for it—handed it back to her with a confused frown on my face, trying to find the words to decipher the magazine's sudden flight.  Once it was in her hands, though, and before I'd really gotten a grip on the usage of my vocal chords, she rolled it into a loose cyllinder and promptly thwapped me over the head with it.  Stunned, I could only stare at her in shock, waiting dumbly for some explanation.  

"You haven't seen Vanilla Sky!" she accused.  

I blinked.  "Wh...what?"

"Vanilla Sky!  With Cruise and Cruz and Crazy Cameron!"

I vaguely remembered hearing something of it, but couldn't recall having been terribly interested in seeing it.  I shook my head.  "I'm sorry.  I must not've seen it."

A pillow slammed into my skull, mussing my hair, before being tugged away.  "Well, no kidding," Ryuuen giggled, drawing the pillow back to her chest with a guilty flush creeping into her cheeks.  "It wasn't really _that_ great of a movie, I guess, but it's worth seeing at least once!  We'll have to rent it once we get moved in!"

Smoothing at my suddenly-frizzy hair, I slid back a bit on the floor, drawing myself to what I hoped was safely out of the range of the pillow.  "When will that be, do you think?  That we'll be moved in, I mean.  I appreciate your aunt and uncle's hospitality, of course," I added hastily, "but I can't help but feel as if I'm...well, something of an imposition."

"Saaaai," Ryuuen said, "you're _not_ an imposition.  Trust me.  They've put up with having me around for seven years, haven't they?  I think they can put up with having you around for a few days."

"Aren't there any hotels in Hamry?  I could easily stay there until the apartment is ready to be moved into."  Of course, I added silently, I would probably have to sell half of my possessions to afford such a thing on top of the rent on the apartment, but there was no need to mention that, now, was there?

Ryuuen shook her head.  "No.  Absolutely not.  Look, if it's that important to you, we can move in tomorrow."  She smiled.  "We won't have any furniture, but I guess we could camp out on the floor.  I've got another sleeping bag."  
  


"Ryuuen, I appreciate it, but it really isn't necessary.  I can move in alone until the furniture comes.  There's no reason at all for you to sleep there on the floor when you could easily be sleeping here in a real—"  

Apparently, I'd been wrong about being safely out of the range of the pillow.  

Somehow, I managed to bring up my arm to block it before it messed up my hair again, but Ryuuen, hardly deterred, simply drew it back and swung again, this time aiming for the other side.  Left with little choice, I raised the other arm but, rather than simply blocking the blow, waited until the pillow was right beside my head, and then grabbed onto it and held tight.  Not realizing just yet that I had a grip on it, Ryuuen tried to yank it back...and, upon encountering unexpected resistance, lost her precarious balance on the edge of the mattress and went tumbling forwards off the edge of the bed.  

It all happened very quickly, at least in my mind; I didn't really think about what I was doing, I simply _did it_, because it was what needed to be done.  Now, granted, the floor _was_ covered in a thick, plush layer of bluish carpeting, and the distance from the top of the mattress to the floor was only maybe two feet or so, but nonetheless, I lunged forward and stretched out my arms, and before I knew quite what I'd done, I found myself lying on my back on the floor, vision obscured in a curtain of purple and a heavy, warm weight against my chest.

Breathless, I somehow lifted an arm from my side and swept the mix of silken brown and violet out of my face; upon blinking my way through the dark spots in my vision, I found a concerned face hovering just above my own, lips twisted slightly in concern.  

"Sai, are you all right?" Ryuuen asked in a quiet, tense voice.  Seemingly wholly consumed in discovering my condition, she didn't seem to notice the fact that she was still lying on top of me, and I couldn't quite find the words to tell her.  "You didn't hit your head, did you?"

"No."  Just to make certain, I touched the back of my skull--no pain, no blood.  "No, I'm...I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded.  "What about you?"

Abruptly, Ryuuen sat up and crawled off of me; her cheeks were crimson.  "I-I'm fine.  Sorry about that."  She drew a few deep breaths then, letting them out slowly through her nostrils, then flicked her eyes back to my face and threw me a tilted grin.  "Even so," she said, "that was _entirely_ your fault."  
  
I blinked.  "It was?"

Nodding, Ryuuen crawled back up onto the mattress and folded her legs beneath her.  "Yes.  Entirely your fault.  If you'd have stopped being so stubborn and trying to tell me that it was okay for _you_ to sleep in a sleeping bag but not _me_, then I wouldn't've had to hit ya.  So, you see, it was completely your fault, and because it was, you owe me a favor."

"I-I do?"  
  
"Yes.  And for that favor, I'd like you to stop acting so polite around me."  
  
My eyes went wide.  "What?"  
  


Ryuuen nodded again.  "That's right.  Granted, we haven't known each other for very long, but we're going to be living together, and I refuse to live with anyone who treats me like a porcelain doll.  I'm not going to break if I have to sleep on the floor for a night, and I'm not going to hate you forever if you say something that I don't like.  Got it?"  
  


"I-I suppose so."

_Thwap_.  The pillow slammed into my face, leaving me sputtering.  

"You're doing it _again,_" Ryuuen exclaimed, jabbing a finger at me.  "Stand up for yourself!  Don't just sit there and let me hit you!"

Frowning, I glanced down at the pillow lying beside me, then turned my eyes back to Ryuuen and raised an eyebrow.  "I'm not going to hit you with my pillow."

Ryuuen smiled.  "All right, then, suit yourself."  _Thwap._  "But don't expect me—"  _Thwap._  "—to go easy on you—"  _Thwap._  "—just because you won't defend yourself."  _Thwap._

By this point, my hair was frizzy and sticking straight up in the air, and I was fairly sure that the left side of my face was starting to pinken from the impact of the pillow.  Nonetheless, I drew a deep breath, let it out slowly, and folded my hands peaceably in my lap.  Although this particular tactic had never worked with my father, I was fairly sure that if I were to just sit here, still and peaceful, and wait, Ryuuen would soon tire of this new pasttime and leave me alone.  After all, how long could anyone possibly hit another person with a pillow?

...ten minutes and approximately seven thousand pillow thwaps later, I decided to rethink this particular line of logic.

Ryuuen was still sitting there on the edge of the bed, thumbing through her magazine with one hand, the other swinging down every few seconds to smack me on the side of the head with that pillow.  Ten minutes.  Ten _minutes_, and she _still_ hadn't given up!  Good God, what was wrong with this girl?  

There was, I realized with a sigh, only one way out.  Moving very slowly, so as not to give her any clue as to what was coming, I let my left hand slide down away from my lap and down towards my own pillow.  I tried to time my movements with the swing of the pillow, knowing that that movement might blind her to witnessing my own motion, and it seemed to be working; her eyes were zipping back and forth over some article in the magazine, and her features were calm and seemingly unconcerned.  Taking some sort of twisted delight in the fact that I'd be catching her completely unaware, I clasped my fingers around the edge of the pillow, tensed my muscles—

"Took ya long enough," Ryuuen said with a grin, not even bothering to look up from her magazine.  "Jesus, you're a stubborn one."

"I..._I'm_ a stubborn one?!"  Gritting my teeth, I looked up and—just as Ryuuen's pillow was soaring towards me—grabbed onto the thing and yanked it out of her hands.  She glanced down at me in surprise, arm still slightly extended in the act of thwapping, and blinked at me a few times.  She was still blinking when, now armed with two pillows instead of one, I got to my feet and loomed over her.  "I'm not the one—"  _Thwap-thwap._  "—who kept hitting someone—"  _Thwap-thwap._  "—with a pillow—"  _Thwap-thwap.  _"—for—"  _THWAP.  _"—ten—"  _THWAP.  _"—minutes—"  _THWAP.  _"—straight!"

Breathing hard, I halted my assault, pillows hanging limply from my hands, brow suddenly creased in concern.  Ryuuen wasn't saying anything, just sitting there on the bed, hair a violet mess on her shoulders, eyes wide in surprise, one hand pressed to her cheek.  Suddenly afraid that I'd hurt her, I lowered myself onto the edge of the bed and peered at her face.  "I'm sorry; I got carried away—are you all right?"

Almost sadly, Ryuuen shook her head.  "Ya almost had it, Sai.  Ya _almost_ had it."  

Before I had the chance to ask her just what she meant by that, she'd ripped one of the pillows from my hand and hit me with it, and as such, I had little choice but to retaliate in kind.  Several minutes later, exhausted and giggling, I collapsed onto my back on the bed, and soon heard the thud of Ryuuen doing the same.  

"There," she said, gasping for breath, "don't you...feel better now?"

I grinned.  "Maybe...a little."

We laid there for awhile, breathing deeply, and then I pulled myself into a sitting position and twisted to study my new roommate.  She was lying there on her back a few inches away from me, pillow tucked behind her head, just watching me and smiling.  The leftmost strap of her pajama top had slipped from her shoulder and was hanging near the top of her bicep; before I even realized that I was moving, I'd lifted a hand and pushed it gently back into place.  

"Thanks," she murmured.  And that was when I noticed it.  

It was a scar, slim and silvery, arcing down from her left shoulder and over her collar bone before vanishing below the neckline of her top.  It was long, making me wonder why I hadn't noticed it before, but it was so thin a line that I could understand why I hadn't.  Frowning, I brought my fingers to it, tracing it lightly; Ryuuen didn't move even as I did so, but the smile faded from her lips.

"How did this happen?" I asked softly.  Remembering what she'd said in the diner, how she'd somehow known "the signs" of someone who lived with abuse, I couldn't help but wonder if there was a connection between that knowledge and this scar.  Jaw clenching, I drew my hand back.  "Did someone..._do_ this to you, Ryuuen?"

She sat up suddenly, swung her legs off the side of the bed, and stood up.  As I watched, frowning, she stalked over to the dresser and tugged open one of the drawers, then started to pull a grey Pittsburgh Steelers T-shirt over her head.  

My voice seemed very small.  "R...Ryuuen?"

When she turned to face me, she was smiling, but her dark eyes seemed to glisten in the lamplight, so much so that I almost thought that I could see myself in them, somehow...  "You see?" she said, the words almost painfully light.  "There was a question that you asked that I didn't like, but I don't hate you for asking it. "  She swallowed, the smile drooping just a bit.  "It's, ah...it's getting late, isn't it?  We should get some sleep; the Pretzel Queen likes to get up early and vacuum..."

I stood up, brow creasing in concern, and crossed the few feet between us; we only stood there for a moment, me gazing down at her, her staring up at me with those wide, glistening violet eyes, before Ryuuen turned and climbed back onto the bed.  "Goodnight, Sai," she said quietly, settling into her pillow with back to me, face towards the closed door.  "Sweet dreams."

I felt a pain in my right hand and, glancing down, found my fingernails embedded into the flesh of my palm; the flicker of pain, however, was welcome.  It helped ease some of the anger. 

_Someone did that to her, I know they did.  Someone did that to her, and it still hurts her, even after all this time...damn it, why do people _do_ things like this?  Why??  I just don't understand._

Anger fading into frustration, I let my shoulders slump and turned my eyes back to Ryuuen.  She was lying there on the bedspread, back to me, violet hair a mass that covered the slope of her jaw.  Her knees were pulled nearly to her chest, one arm hidden beneath the pillow and the other clasped to her chest, and unless I mistook my guess, her eyes were open.    
  


I wanted very badly, all of a sudden, to go to her, to comfort her...because, Lord, I _knew_ what that felt like.  I knew what it felt like to curl up on a bed and wish for sleep, because sleep was the only relief from the pain and the memories and the tears.  I knew what it was like, and it was _horrible_, and why on earth should someone like Ryuuen—someone good and kind and so much better than me—have to suffer through that alone?  Why?  It wasn't fair.  

For a moment, my muscles seemed tensed on the verge of doing just that, of walking over to that bed and crawling onto it and...I don't know, touching her shoulder, or smoothing back her hair, or maybe just letting her know that I knew what she must be going through and if she needed to talk about it, I was _here_...

_And then what, Saihitei?  Then what?  Are you so far away from your own pain that you can deal with hers, too?  What makes you think that you can help her, anyway?  Hm?  What makes you think that anything you say or do—you, who ran away from home and messed up your life and are now sleeping under a roof only because of the kindness of _strangers_—can help her?  She's the one who's got it together, Saihitei.  She's the one who's strong. _

_You're the one who needs help. You're the one who's _weak.

Feeling suddenly very tired, I walked over to the lamp, bare feet cool against the fabric of my sleeping bag, and switched it off.  Flickers of moonlight streamed in through the window, bathing the room in a soft silvery glow; as such, I saw it when Ryuuen sat up and—sweeping the hair back from her face—turned to look at me.  She looked like she might be about to speak, but I didn't give her the chance.

"When I was about seven," I began slowly, still standing there, motionless, by the lamp, "I used to like having tea parties with my mother.  My father spent the day at work, so we were all alone; Mother would get out the good china and make the tea, and I would make little cucumber sandwiches and put them on a platter, and then we would sit down at the table, her at one end and me at the other, and take turns pretending to be the servant.  But then, around that time, my father lost his job when the corporation he worked for went out of business, and so suddenly he was _around_ when Mother and I had our tea parties.  At first, he didn't say anything about them."  I laughed, very softly, but it didn't come out quite right.  "Once, he even joined in and pretended to be the servant.  He spoke in a British accent and called me 'love' and my mother 'mum.'  But...but, after a month or so, I guess it started to grate on his nerves that he couldn't find another job as easily as he'd found the first one.  He got...irritable, and I think that's when he really started to drink."

I shook my head.  "One day, a few months later, Father didn't come home all night.  When he came back, it was in the afternoon, and Mother and I were having our tea.  He was...he was very drunk, but he said that that was because he'd been celebrating, as he'd found a job in a computer firm a few towns away.  I-I thought that it meant we would have to move, and so I...I got angry and started to shout at him, and he..."

I could hear, all of a sudden, the sound of my mother shrieking, and the terrible silence that fell when she finally stopped.  I could hear him shouting at me, and I could feel the thud of his fists, the slap of his hands—the scalding pain of the tea, soaking through my shirt and stinging against my skin....

"He tried to hit me," I continued in a fairly-steady voice, "but Mother stopped him.  He...he hit _her_, then, because he said that she was always interfering...and I was so angry that he would do that to her that I grabbed my cup of tea and was going to throw it at him.  He saw me, though, and before I could throw it, he...he jumped at me.  I-I forgot that...that I was still holding the cup, and I leaped backwards to get away from him, and..."  I swallowed.  "The tea spilled all over me.  It had just come out of the kettle, so it was still close to boiling.  I wasn't burned seriously, but it hurt so badly that...  Well, that I've never been able to stand the taste of tea after that."

There was silence for a moment.  Caught up in my own wash of memories, I didn't notice that Ryuuen was climbing down from her bed until I heard the rustle of her feet on the carpet.  By the time I looked up, she was standing there in front of me, pale face gleaming in the moonlight, eyes and hair seeming to be flecked with silver—and then she stepped forward, slipped her arms beneath my armpits, and hugged me close. 

"We're going to have a rule," she murmured, her words a warm breath against my ear.  "No man comes into our apartment until we've cleaned the place of all possible weapons.  All scalding liquid, all knives, all baseball bats, all sub-machine guns...everything."  
  
I smiled, somehow feeling warm and protected despite the fact that Ryuuen was several inches shorter than me, as well as pounds lighter.  "No weapons doesn't necessarily mean that they'll be helpless.  They can punch, or kick...and that's not exactly something we can take away from them."  
  
"Well," Ryuuen said slowly, considering, "we'll make them wear mittens.  And slippers."  
  
"Mittens and slippers?  Every man who comes into the apartment?"

"Uh-huh."  
  


"What if we need to call the electrician or something?"  
  
Grinning, Ryuuen gave me one last squeeze, then carefully detached herself from the embrace and stepped backwards.  "Well, then," she said wryly, "I sure hope he can get his work done in mittens, or else he's not going to get paid."

There was a brief, comfortable pause, and then Ryuuen reached forward, grabbed my hand, and clasped it between both of hers.  "Well," she said with a smile, "we really should get to sleep.  I wasn't kidding about Aunt Anne and the vacuum."

"Okay," I replied.  I was smiling, too, although I couldn't quite figure out when things had drifted from solemn and serious to smiles and laughter again. 

_It's her.  Ryuuen.  Something about her just makes everything brighter..._

"Goodnight, Sai," she said, starting back for the bed.

Smiling, I brought the hand she'd just let go of to my chest and held it there, then watched as she crawled back onto the mattress and dropped her head onto the pillow.  "Goodnight," I murmured.

I dreamed of her, when I finally drifted off, and morning came far too soon.

~*~


	5. V

[Stand By Me]

-5-

I didn't sleep very far into the morning, maybe because the floor was hard and uncomfortable, or maybe because Ryuuen hadn't been exaggerating about Anne's love of vacuuming early.  Whatever the case, I opened my eyes at about half past six, and was just in time to watch the door burst open and a smiling, vacuuming Anne charge in.  Her thick red hair was dotted with curlers, all of varying colors and sizes, and although it appeared as if she'd applied the day's make-up already, she was still clad in a fuzzy blue bathrobe and matching slippers.  

"Mornin', dear!" she called over the roar, sending a grey Hoover Upright whizzing past my sleeping bag.  "You can go on out to the kitchen if you want; Joe's got pancakes waitin' for ya!"

Eyes wide, I pulled myself into a sitting position to peer over the edge of the bed...and found that somehow, impossibly, Ryuuen was still _asleep_.  She was lying diagonally on the mattress, bare feet dangling over the one edge while her arm dangled over the other, and despite all the noise, her face was still calm and smoothed with sleep.  

Noticing my shock, Anne chuckled and shook her head at me.  "That's Ryuu for ya," she said.  "After all these years of puttin' up with me vacuuming in the mornings, she could sleep through a tornado if she had to."  There was a slight pause, during which Anne zipped the Hoover underneath the bed, then pivoted and sent the vacuum soaring towards the wall beside me, tugging it back just centimeters away from hitting the plaster.  "Well, go on," she urged, waving a hand and grinning.  "Ryuu'll be along soon.  Weirdest thing; girl can sleep through a thunderstorm, but if ya so much as touch her arm, she'll be awake and out of bed as quick as that.  Go on and get some breakfast.  I'll send 'er out after ya soon."

Left with little choice in the matter, I grabbed my glasses from the carpet beside me, slipped them on, and started for the door.  The sudden change in altitude made me feel dizzy for a moment, so I paused there by the door, hand against the wall while I waited for the spots to clear from my vision.  Anne had turned away to vacuum the far corner of the room a few moments earlier, and so she didn't notice.  I suppose she thought I had already left the room, because as I stood there, I saw her toss a quick glance to Ryuuen on the bed, and she wasn't smiling anymore.  Her painted lips were twisting down worriedly, eyebrows pressing together on her forehead.  I thought I saw her mouth moving, but whatever she said was lost beneath the roar of the vacuum...and then she noticed me, gave a wide smile, and went back to work.  

 I slipped out into the hallway after that, the reddish carpeting tickling against the bottoms of my feet as I moved.  The kitchen was to the right and through the living room, but despite the fact that my stomach was rumbling quietly, I wasn't feeling quite up to breakfast yet.  Arms folded in front of me, I turned to the left and soon found myself stopped before the bathroom door.  Like the other doors in the house, it was bathed in white paint that was just starting to chip, and the knob was a cool, tarnished brass.  I was just wrapping my fingers around it when the vacuum switched suddenly off.  

It wasn't a strange thing, in itself.  Anne, after all, had been moving very quickly through the room, and certainly could've finished by now—there was no reason at all for me to believe that she'd stopped for any reason other than completion of her task.  And yet, my heart was suddenly pounding in my chest, my breath coming in short, harsh breaths.  Before I was entirely aware of what I was doing, I'd turned away from the bathroom and was slipping back down the hallway towards Ryuuen's door, and it wasn't until I felt the burning in my chest that I realized I'd been holding my breath.

I came to a halt just beside the door, out of sight, and leaned my head against the wall.  Inside, I could hear Anne's voice, a soothing, wordless murmur, and beneath it was the sound of the bed springs creaking, as if someone were rocking on them.  Slicing up through it all, however, was the very quiet, practically-inaudible sound of crying.

It was Ryuuen.  Ryuuen was crying.  For a long time I could do nothing but stand there, feeling weak and breathless and like I might cry myself, because it seemed so unfair. 

_Why?  Why is she crying?  Why would anyone hurt her?  Why would anyone make her cry?_

My fists were clenched at my sides, my shoulders so rigid that they were beginning to ache.  

_Why?_

Deep inside, I knew that this was a private moment between Ryuuen and her aunt, and that to intrude on it would most likely just embarrass her, and probably make her close herself off to me even more.  And yet, something deep inside of me felt almost..._responsible_ for those tears, and no matter how little sense that made when I tried to think about it logically, the fact remained that it was my fault, and if it was my fault, then it was my duty to fix it.  So, drawing a deep breath, fingers clenching at my sides, I stepped around the side of the doorway and moved into the room.

Anne didn't notice me right away; her back was to the door, sitting as she was in the middle of the bed, but Ryuuen...  Ryuuen's eyes met mine the instant I stepped into view.  Anne was holding her in a sitting hug, Ryuuen's chin resting on her aunt's broader shoulder, and although her eyes were open, they were brimming with tears.  I was still staring at the scene in shock, wondering what on earth could've happened to cause such a break-down, when Anne turned her head and saw me there, and the look in her eyes...

_Does...does she blame me for this??_

It certainly appeared that way; while Anne's expression wasn't one of malice or hatred, it _was_ one of a sorrowful kind of accusation.  I began to tremble, having to grab onto the door frame to keep my legs steady, and as I watched, Ryuuen drew a few deep breaths and disentangled herself from her aunt's embrace.  

"Sai," she said, very softly, "come here, please."  

The tears dragged an innocent, light-hearted tone into something just short of anguish; I suddenly wanted nothing more than to just go to her and hug her until the pain went away, but I didn't.  Instead I started forward, moving as quickly as my unsteady legs would allow, and had soon come to a halt at the edge of the bed.  

Anne, strangely, had gotten to her feet as I approached, and was now busying herself with returning the vacuum cord to its proper place.  Before that task was even half done, though, she hugged the Hoover to her chest and marched to the door.  She gave Ryuuen only one brief, sorrowful glance, before vanishing out into the hallway.

More confused than ever, I turned my eyes back to Ryuuen.  She sat crosslegged at the edge of the bed, violet hair hanging in tangles about her face, eyes pink and wet from crying.  A quick glance at the pillowcase proved it damp and splotched with tears.

"Ryuuen?"  My voice sounded hoarser than it should have; I couldn't seem to stop my hands from trembling.

_This is my fault.  I know it is.  Somehow, this is my fault._

Sniffling, Ryuuen reached out a hand and took my larger fingers into hers; using that leverage, she pulled me towards her, and a moment later, I was sitting on the mattress beside her, feet planted firmly on the floor.  She didn't let go of my hand, but instead rested our clasped fingers on her thigh.  I didn't try to pull away, nor do I think I could have even if I'd wanted to.

"Sai, last...last night, I..."  Her eyes were closed.  As I watched, a tear squeezed from beneath her eyelashes and slipped down to her chin, dangling there for half a breath before falling.  She laughed, then, a choked and heartbreaking sound.  "It's sounds so stupid, but I...I had a bad dream."  
  


My mouth felt strangely dry.  "A bad dream?"

She swallowed, opening her eyes but keeping her gaze on the floor; the grip of her fingers on mine tightened just noticeably.  "Yes," she managed.  "It...it was about how I got this scar."  Her hand moved to her collarbone, where—beneath the grey fabric of the T-shirt—I knew that that long, slender scar rested.   She shook her head.  "I-I've dreamed about it before.  I used to dream about it a lot, in fact, right after it happened, but--"  Her eyes, suddenly, were on mine, and I couldn't help but notice how clear and dark they looked through the tears, how truly beautiful the blending of those hues could be.  "This was different," she whispered.  "This was so different."

Slowly, I lifted my other hand and folded it over our clasped fingers.  "Ryuuen," I said firmly, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to.  I really don't mind if you don't.  Don't feel...obligated, just because I told you what I did last night."

Ryuuen drew in a long, shuddering breath; her eyes fell closed seemingly of their own volition.  "Sai, I...I need to tell you because...because, in my dream--"  She broke off, covering her face with the palm of her hand; before I knew what I was doing, I'd turned and taken that hand into mine, drawing it gently back from her face.  

"Ryuuen," I said, using as soothing a tone as I could manage.  "Why don't you wait until more time has passed before you tell me?  Why don't—" I glanced at the door, still open, through which the sounds of clattering silverware could be heard from the kitchen.  "Why don't we go and eat some breakfast, and then maybe after that, you'll feel more like talking.  Okay?"  
  


_It's so strange to see her falling apart like this.  What on earth did she dream about??_

She nodded silently, heaving another breath in through her nostrils and then letting is seep out through parted lips.  "Okay."  Her voice sounded uncharacteristically small.  "Okay."

~*~

****

**N O T E S:**

**Readers:**  Gee, Ryu-chan, isn't this an unuuuuuuusually-short chapter??  

**Ryuen:**  Yeahhhhhhhh.  But today, October the 11th, is Coming Out Day, and in honor of that, I've decided to post what I have done of this latest chapter of Stand By Me.  Whyyyyyyyy?  Because it's the only fic I have that stars two soon-to-be-romantically-involved women, and I think that's fairly appropriate given my recent...err...announcement.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, you may flee to my info page or my web site, and thus will be informed.  And if you DO know what I'm talking about and are  horribly offended and will henceforth ignore me and my fanfiction, well, to you I say, "Good day!"  

**Nuriko:  **Yeah!  

**Ryuen:  ***nod*


End file.
